Mermaid Melody Season 3: Book 1
by Demonika and Mikan
Summary: My take on a 3rd series for the show. When a friend from the sea informs the girls that they will need to return to their homes after what has been 4 years, all sort of mayhem begins. What will happen about their boyfriends? Would their dream of eternal piece really last or will a new enemy threaten that dream? Find out in the 1st installment of my take on a 3rd season.
1. Chapter 1: A call from the sea

**Demonika: I thought you people would know the drill by now with me and name changes but I can promise you this is my final name change, this name has been rolled out on almost everything I do so get used to this name from now on.**

 **MM cast: *stare***

 **Demonika: So... it has been a couple of years since I've touched this story but with a good reason! To give it a good kick, a reboot as it were, to make it better than what it was cause looking back at it oh my lord... my how my ideals have changed since then, poor little naive me...**

 **Luchia: What exactly was wrong with it?**

 **Demonika: Some parts of the plot, my way of telling it, where it was headed, I feel like it needs to be changed so I'm giving it the change I think it deserves after all this time. Whilst I have a fair bit of the ground work for the story and a fair part of the later half of the old one that I still really like looking back at it, I feel like the beginning was rushed, not really fleshed out and some of it felt so meh to me, so let's hope this new version is what I hoped and more! ^_^**

 **Kaito: As always, Demonika does not own Mermaid Melody and its characters in a way, shape or form, but does own any OC's who may appear in this story.**

 **Demonika: And with my long blab of** **me not being satisfied with myself** **why I want to re-write it, let us begin this familiar but new tale!**

* * *

 **Mermaid Melody Season 3: Book 1**

 **Chapter 1: A call from the sea**

With the fight with Mikeru and Mikaru over and life seemingly heading back to normal, everyone felt like the book had been closed on their tale. Life was very peaceful, and Kaito had even moved into the Pearl Piari on somewhat of a request. Nikora thought it would be easier for Luchia as she could enjoy his company more often, but for their group it meant he was more nearby. They made a good profit from selling off Kaito's old apartment too, it was in a great location after all. She knew that even with that chapter coming to an end, that there was a new one waiting for them. No matter how much they had grown to love the land, they would all one day need to return to sea, the next chapter of their lives.

And life had truly been very peaceful as they had hoped it would be. No sea demons had prepared to attack them, school life was coming to an end in the next year, it seemed like it couldn't be more perfect for them.

But when you're a denizen of the sea, nothing is ever peaceful forever...

*Ding dong*

"I'll get it!" A voice shouted running down the stair case. It was Luchia. In the year or so that had passed Luchia had grown a little bit taller and had grown her hair out a bit more too, now running down to just above her mid-back now. She was wearing different magenta pajamas now as well. She'd ditched her long sleeved top for a non sleeved vest version in a similar colour, and more mid length baggy trousers. Kaito had also bought her some new slippers with little chibi bunny faces on the front of them and ears poking out, all in a pastel pink and white palette.

She rushed down as fast as she could to get the door, curious as to who would make a call to their place in the middle of the night. When she opened it, she was greeted by a face that seemed so familiar to her yet she was not sure why.

"Yo Luchia, long time no see huh?" the stranger said.

Luchia looked the stranger up and down trying to work out who they were, the stranger frowning in response.

"Luchia, you don't recognise me?"

She took another good look. The stranger was a female with sea blue eyes, and hair of a similar colour in a soft wavy bob with jaggered straight fringing running across the top of her eyes. She was wearing a pretty fluffy light pastel orange coat with a white fur collar, dark coloured leggings and some mid length black boots with wide white X straps on them.

It took her a little while, but Luchia thought she had finally twigged who it was. "Yukari?"

The stranger gave her a massive grin back, the two launching into a hug, both excited to finally see one another after so long.

"How have you been?" Luchia asked excitedly. "But more importantly what are you doing here?"

"Did Nikora not tell you in advance that I was coming? Hold that- I guess she didn't or else you would have recognised me sooner," Yukari snarked back with a cheeky grin.

Luchia pouted. "It's been a little while since I was last home do you think I would have remembered with everything that's happened?"

"I guess not," Yukari replied giggling to herself a little. "Oh right, have you seen-"

"YUKARI!" A loud voice shouted from the top of the stairs. Nikora had fallen asleep in waiting for her to turn up. "You're late." Nikora hadn't exactly changed much herself. As a thank you present for letting Kaito live with them, he'd bought her a similar pair of slippers to Luchia's own but with pastel purple instead. Her outfit otherwise was almost identical to Luchia's except her choice of colour, that being purple of course.

Yukari bowed to her and apologised for being late but she'd gotten a bit lost on the way, the instructions on the map that was sent weren't exactly clear.

She made her way downstairs and gave Yukari a hug as well. "All that matters is you made it here nice and safe. Since Luchia is awake we might as well get along with the discussion, into the kitchen."

"Nikora wait!" Luchia said trying to get her attention as she walked away, she felt rather confused.

Another voice could be heard yawning from the top of the stairs now too. "Luchia, what's going on? First the door rings then I hear excited giggles and then-" Kaito paused when he saw the other girl who was with Luchia.

"Ah, Kaito, this is Yukari, she's a mermaid from my kingdo-"

"Luchia!" Yukari screamed as she covered Luchia's mouth with her hands.

Kaito took a second to get why she did it but then spoke up to comfort her. "Yukari was it? It's perfectly fine for me to know your secret. My name is Kaito, last Panthalassa Prince of the seas and Luchia's boyfriend. Nice to meet you." After getting his memories back despite still being on land, he'd taken up the pride of his role as a prince and greeted people from Luchia's kingdom like they should. He began walking downstairs to meet her.

Yukari was quite shocked for a moment to hear those words but rearranged herself. "Pleasure to meet you," she said holding out a hand for him to shake.

Before he could shake it a roar came from the kitchen. "Are you guys getting your butts in here anytime soon?! We have really important issues to discuss!"

"Coming!" Both girls cried running into the kitchen to calm Nikora down. "Oh and Kaito, you'd better join in with us too, the conversation needs your attention too."

"I'm coming..." he replied in a groggy tone, letting out another yawn, he still wasn't quite fully awake yet.

They all took at seat down at the only table that had the chairs take down and waited whilst Nikora boiled some tea.

"I guess I should explain a little bit more about who I am," Yukari spoke up breaking the silence. "As Luchia said, I'm from her kingdom, one of her more personal servants as it were. The reason why I'm here, is because the kingdom felt it was best to send someone close to Luchia to help explain the current situation we have."

"Is everything alright?" Luchia asked, perking up from her last few words.

"In a way yes, and in many other ways no," Nikora replied for her as she carried the tray of fresh tea over, placing it down in the center of the table. She took her seat and her tea, warming her hands up around it. "It's been 4 years since Luchia was properly back home, the kingdom is wondering when their princess will return to them."

Luchia's face dropped a bit when she heard that. "Has it really been that long since I left?"

"It really has yes," Yukari replied taking over. "Sadly, as much as you'd like to think you could stay on land forever, that isn't the case. You are a princess with duties that need to be fulfilled, one of which is being there for your people. As we said, it's been 4 years without you."

Luchia was preparing herself for the worst. Before Nikora could tell her, Luchia spoke up. "May I take a guess?"

Everyone remained silent, Luchia taking that as her sign. "I have to return don't I?" The three looked quite shocked to hear it from Luchia's mouth. She out of all of them loved land the most and would usually be the least willing to return, so to hear her say it was quite the shock.

"Spot on," Nikora said. "It's high time all of us returned. You, Hanon, Rina, Hippo and me have been here far too long. And as said, you 3 are princesses, as much as I know you would all love to remain here, we are all bound to the sea it's where we belong, it's where we must return to."

Luchia just looked down at the table, refusing to look up at anyone upon hearing those words. When she spoke, her voice cracked up a bit. "It would be foolish of me to think I could stay here forever. It's as you said, I'm a princess after all, I can't leave my kingdom alone. But at the same time..." Luchia was unable to continue what she wanted to say, the words refused to come out, her voice breaking up as tears begun to fall onto the table.

Kaito wrapped his arms around her and dragged her over to him, letting her rest against him and sob.

"When exactly do you have to return then?" Kaito asked, he was deeply worried for how Luchia felt but they had to carry on the conversation.

"One week," Yukari replied, she didn't sound too happy either. "Enough time to notify the school of your leaving the area, and enough time for everyone to say goodbye to this world."

"There is one more thing Kaito," Nikora said grabbing his attention. "Even though you were raised up here and lived most of your life here, you are a prince to your clan. With everything else happening, we think it's best you return as well."

If he was shocked about hearing them having to return the last thing he expected was this. It put him into pure silence, even Luchia had stopped crying to looked up at his face. Nikora noticed he didn't look too good after hearing that.

"It's not as if we're asking you to be dropped off into the ocean somewhere and go to your clan. You see, there's one last thing that needs to be done when we return. Luchia is to be wed-"

"Seriously?!" Luchia shouted out in disapproval.

"Would both of you just allow me to go one single piece of information without having to stop?!" Nikora screamed back angrily. Luchia retreated a little at this, Kaito slumped back into his seat a bit trying to relax, and Yukari had her face in the palms of her hands. She knew this wasn't going to be easy to get through. "The suggestion at hand is if all of us have to return, and Luchia has to be wed, I see no reason why she shouldn't get married to Kaito, he is a prince after all."

Silence hung in the air for a few seconds whilst they took the time to process Nikora's words, both blushing after realising what had been proposed.

"Don't you think we're both a bit young to be married?" Luchia asked, trying to calm herself down on the inside.

"Not at all," Yukari replied with a smile, deciding it was her turn to say something after being dragged all the way over here. "You had your coming of age when you were 13 and a princess can be wed once she is 15, so it's not young at all really."

"I just have one small question," Kaito said finally finding his voice. "Did you prep all of this in advance hoping we would just go along with it?"

Nikora didn't exactly expect him to say that but thought of a response nonetheless. "Are you trying to imply the thought of getting married is slightly scary?"

Kaito blushed back a bit at her words before raising his voice a bit. "It's not like that at all. I had actually planned to ask Luchia next year when we were more of the age, so that's not the problem at all. My question is did you honestly think this all up without consulting us first on it? And even then, it doesn't feel like we have much of a choice in the matters eitherway."

"Except that's just it," Luchia spoke up. "I'm a princess, and you're a prince. We're both not from land at all, we belong in the ocean. Society will be what it will be and we have to fulfill our duties, even if they do feel a little extreme for the age that we are. But that's just how it is. I wouldn't really expect you to understand how it feels though, you've grown up here, the sea even though it is your life is still quite a mystery to you. I don't like this much either, I don't really want to leave land at all, but if it has to be done as part of my role as a princess, then so be it."

"Luchia..." Kaito was honestly stunned by her words, but he knew she meant every word she said.

Yukari could feel that the two were getting a bit overworked up on the matter, it was a lot to digest and think about in such a short period of time. "I have a suggestion, how about we all go to sleep and think on this more tomorrow when are minds are in the right place?"

"Sounds like a good idea I guess," Nikora replied. "I've said pretty much all there is to say, but yes, thinking more on it tomorrow would be better." She stood up from the table clearing away the tea and washing up the cups in the sink carefully.

"I'm think I'm going to go take a bath," Luchia said, standing up and giving Yukari a hug before she went up. Yukari looked over to Kaito who still looked a little shocked. Before she could say anything, he stood up and said goodnight, heading back upstairs. She sighed and glanced back over to Nikora who had finished washing up, shooting her a bit of a cold glare, and Nikora picked up on that quickly.

"What was with that glare just now?" Nikora asked confused.

"Oh you know," Yukari began to say standing up and pushing the chairs back under the table. "I come all this way to be helpful in our explaining of the situation, and you end up saying almost everything. Was there even a point to me being here?"

"I thought you might have wanted to see a bit more of land as well. Last time you were here was when I briefly showed you it as a child, and let's face it, it's not as if you will be seeing much of it either. I'm honestly going to leave those two tomorrow to think on it all before Monday rolls around. I thought you and me could go do some farewell sightseeing before you have to go back tomorrow night."

Yukari perked up at the thought of seeing a bit more of land and had a smile going from ear to ear. "Sounds great!"

Nikora went off to set up Yukari's room for the night, very slowly passing by the door to Kaito's room. She just hoped he would be okay with all of it in the end.

* * *

After half an hour or so, across the hall in the bathroom Luchia was just about finished with her bath when she heard the door begin to open. Assuming that it was Hippo, she did her usual thing of sending a wall of water flying towards the door. She had expected to hear Hippo scream and shout at her for doing it, but she heard no screams of any sort and slowly opened her eyes to find a dripping wet Kaito, looking not too amused by what she'd done.

"Erm- listen I'm sorry for that!" She apologies quickly. "I thought it was going to be Hippo so I acted in self defense!"

Kaito took a deep breath before saying anything. "Hippo isn't even here, he's been gone for over a week now, and does it really matter anyway? You're in your mermaid form when you have a bath anyway, it's not as if anyone is going to see anything."

"I guess..." Luchia replied shyly.

"I did just come here to brush my teeth but since you've soaked me, I guess I have no choice but to take a bath." Kaito took his top off and tossed it to one side of the room. He looked back over to Luchia, noticing that she wasn't intent on moving.

"You can still take a bath whilst I'm in it you know, I don't mind," Luchia said to comfort him for a moment.

Kaito then proceeded to strip down, and for once, Luchia didn't blush at all. She'd seen him naked too many times now to be shocked about it, and it wasn't as if Kaito hadn't seen Luchia naked a few times too. He sat down in the opposite end of the bath to Luchia, who then shifted herself over so that she was sitting almost on top of him.

"So, are you nervous about going back home to your Palace then?" Kaito asked.

"To tell you the truth, a bit. I miss it actually. As they said it has been 4 years since I've been there. Sure I was disobedient to a few people there, but I do miss everyone the more I think about it," Luchia replied, manning up about the situation. "But what about you? I'm more concerned for you than anything else. You've spent all your life here and now you're having to give it all up for me basically."

Kaito grimaced a bit at that and hugged Luchia tightly. "Don'y ever say that it's your fault. I'd do anything for you anyway. Sure it's a complete shocker that I have to return as well, but it's in the best interest that I do. And as long as I'm with you, I'd give up anything." He sat upright and titled her head backwards, bringing her in for a slow and passionate kiss. They broke apart once both deprived of oxygen.

They sat in silence for a good 15 minutes just letting the water wash over them and relax them.

"Well, I'm getting out then, you don't mind waiting whilst I dry off do you?" Luchia asked.

"No it's fine. Go ahead."

Luchia hopped out the bath tub sitting over the edge to dry off her tail, reverting back to her human self in her pajamas's. She looked over to Kaito as if to signal that he could come out as well.

"Just one issue, you soaked all of my clothes. Think you could maybe go find me some fresh clothes as payment?" Kaito said jokingly.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Luchia chuckled. "I'll be right back." She ran into his room and found a plain white t-shirt and a pair of blue boxer shorts. She chucked them into the bathroom and headed off to her room, leaving Kaito to change and go to sleep.

Once she had just settled down, she heard knocking on her door. She just said to enter, surprised that Kaito had visited again.

"It's gone past midnight now, what's wrong?" She asked. She never usually saw him this late.

"It's just- I'm having a few troubles sleeping. You mind if I spend the night with you?" He asked politely.

"We aren't married just yet you know," she joked as she hopped out of bed.

"I know that but can I just sleep with you this one night if it helps me sleep better?" Kaito pleaded.

"You know, Hippo's room is a lot closer to yours than mine, you couldn't just go sleep in there?" She said teasing him.

"Oh come on! Please just let me come sleep with you!" Kaito was no literally at the point of being a god, down on his knees begging at her feet.

"Fine, come on in then," Luchia said waiting for him to stand up. He gave her a massive hug and let her hop back into bed, closing the door behind him. Luchia settled down in her bed facing the wall whilst Kaito slept on the other side, wrapping his hands around her waist. Both quickly fell into a deep sleep and stayed that way for the rest of the night.

When they both woke up the next morning, they found a note on the kitchen table from Nikora. It just explained that she'd taken Yukari out for a day of sightseeing before she returned that evening, and that Yukari says see you in 6 days. Both were reminded of the events of last night, and what was going to happen once those 6 days were up.

"So how do you feel about the whole situation now then?" Luchia asked, hoping that Kaito had mellowed.

"Honestly, I think last night was just shock more than anything else. So we're going to get married, and we're going to be living the sea. But you know what? As long as I'm with you, I feel like everything's going to be fine." He brought her in for a bit of a long hug, both then wondering what they were going to do for the rest of the day.

Eventually, Hanon and Rina joined them both for some breakfast. But the notice Nikora left didn't go unnoticed by Rina.

"Luchia? Why did Nikora leave a note saying she'd taken someone called Yukari sightseeing? Did something happen that we should know about?"

When the conversations were going on last night, Hanon and Rina were out like light bulbs in their room. They had each gone on a date and both felt pretty tired and conked out pretty quickly.

"Oh right," Luchia said with a low voice. "I was going to wait for Nikora to come back later to explain it but I guess I can give you the short of it." She tried to form the words but her mouth refused to say anything for them, so Kaito spoke up on her behalf.

"By Saturday next week, we all have return to the sea."

You could have sworn Rina and Hanon went into deep shock after hearing it. Suddenly, the door opened and Nikora walked into the kitchen. "Sorry that I'm back so soon, the weather turned sour pretty fast so Yukari just decided to go home." She stopped herself from talking when she was Rina and Hanon were there as well.

"Nikora, is it true?" Hanon asked, her voice breaking up in the same way as when Luchia had found out last night.

"Do we, really have to return this time?" Rina asked too, not wanting to say the words.

Nikora let out a sigh but composed herself to speak. "I'm afraid so. I can explain more details in depth in you wish but I'll keep it brief for you two. Luchia is to return to her palace and be wed to Kaito as part of her duties. As a compromise, your Kingdoms have allowed you to stay with her until such a time, but once they are married, you are both expected to return to your own kingdoms and continue your respective duties too. I know it seems extremely sudden and unfair but we've all been away from land for a good 4 years now. It's high time we return."

Hanon actually began tearing up realising something painful. "We have to say goodbye to Nagisa and Masahiro too... don't we?"

Nikora didn't want to say it, she even feared that saying yes would be just as painful as not saying anything. Both of them knew it meant yes. They both said sorry and left the kitchen to return to their rooms for a short while. Luchia was about to rush on up after them until Nikora barred her from moving. "I know you want to go comfort them but it's best just to leave them be for now. They'll need some time to process it all and find their own ways of saying goodbye." Nikora headed off out of the kitchen to strip out of her coat and wandered off somewhere.

Even with the weather being a bit grim, both suited up and decided to head out to go to a cafe. With Hanon and Rina as they were they decided that not even being in the house might be a good idea too.

* * *

 **Demonika: Oh man this 1st chapter was hard to do! It was mainly hard because of trying to set everything up for the rest of the story. That at the night before finishing this I went on a bit of a manga binge and was reminded how slightly different everything is at the end including the short epilogue (which I loved!) so I thought I'd put a warning that some parts of this are a little truer to some things in the manga and that the epilogue is somewhat being taken into account.**

 **Luchia: You are really trying to get into detail on this aren't you?**

 **Demonika: I just want it to be better than what it was. I mean everyone seems to want me to still continue with it, and I will get there one day. When I do, it's gonna be good, I mean sure some things will be different for sure but I am roughly headed for the same conclusion stop point as I was before.**

 **Kaito: So please look forward to it**


	2. Chapter 2: I don't want to say goodbye

**Demonika: I really don't have much to say here... I explained all my stuff back in the 1st chapter. As it's not like I can add much else in since this is still in the re-write phase and will be for some time. I guess I'll just say I don't know when I'm going to get the time to do chapters, I'm trying to juggle other stories and ideas as well as other things in my life, so I don't have all the time in the world to write. Chapters will be out whenever they are out. And as a disclaimer: I do not own Mermaid Melody or any of the characters in it, but I do own any of the OC's who may appear later down the line.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: I don't want to say goodbye**

Monday had rolled around after the events of the weekend. Hanon and Rina weren't very happy still, neither of them wanted to tell their boyfriends that by Saturday they would be gone for what would be forever. Instead of heading to school for their final lessons of that week, they instead had a meeting with the Principal just after school had ended for the day.

Nikora was sat down on the chair on the other side of the desk with the 3 girls and Kaito standing up behind her, waiting for Jacobs to fully read over their letter. Jacob was a man who looked roughly like he was in his 30's, had a mob of short but fluffy blonde hair with some of his tips fading into amethyst purple. His eyes were the same amethyst colour. He also had a silver necklace around his neck but no one had ever seen the item on the end of it as he kept it tucked into his shirt all the time.

Once he was done he took his reading glasses off and placed them down on the table. "I understand matters in life do happen. If you all have to return to your home town for business and Kaito is to return with you, then I have but little choice to accept your letters of removal from the school."

Nikora smiled and said a huge thank you to him.

"I must ask one thing though," Jacobs spoke up. "Your hometown has never been specified ever to us, except for Kaito. Any particular reason why?"

Everyone put on the straightest face that they could, as Rina spoke for everyone. "Security reasons. We can never explain fully but if our hometown was to be found out, and certain people found out where we are from, it could be bad for us. We hope you understand our reason to not put it down."

Jacobs sat in silence for a minute, allowing for that information to seep in. "I see. Well, if it's for security reasons, once again I have but little choice." He stood up out of his seat, Nikora rising up with him. "I hereby permit that Kaito, Luchia, Hanon and Rina will be removed from the school registrar. I wish you all the best of luck in returning to your hometown." He smiled at all four of them and shook their hands one by one as they left the office.

Once he had closed the door, Luchia let out a sigh. "I'm glad he understood."

"Nikora, I know we were all supposed to go shopping to get stuff for the last few days, but would you mind if I were to go and see Masahiro?" Rina asked.

"I don't see why not," she replied. "You spend all the time you need to with him."

"Thank you," Rina said with a cheery smile as she began walking back in the other direction to go out the back gates of the school.

Hanon watched as she left, and jumped a little as Nikora put a hand to her shoulder. "If you want to go see Nagisa then go."

Hanon too said her thank you and rushed off to catch up to Rina.

"Say Rina?" Hanon said grabbing her attention. "Are you going to tell Masahiro today that we have to leave?"

Rina's face sank as she brought it up. "I was thinking about it yes. He has to know before Saturday after all. I know the first time we told them it was a bit of a false alarm, but to have to say it again and for it to be true..."

"I feel the same way," Hanon replied. "But we don't have much of a choice, I have to tell him today."

Rina was amazed at how brave Hanon was being about it all. "Then I'll do the same."

Whilst the two of them went their separate ways out of the back gate, Hanon to go to Nagisa's house and Rina to go to Masahiro's boxing area, Luchia, Kaito and Nikora went to go get the last bits of food they would need for the week.

* * *

 **\- At Nagisa's house -**

Hanon rang to doorbell and was greeted with a big hug from Nagisa and a quick kiss. "What brings you all the way over to mine after school? And for that matter how come you're not in your uniform?"

"I'll explain everything in a bit, there's something rather important I need to talk to you about," Hanon said trying to keep it all together.

Nagisa was immediately concerned but let her in, making a cup of tea for both of them as they sat down on the sofa in his lounge.

"So, what's on your mind then?" Nagisa asked.

"Do you remember a year or so ago when I said I might have to leave, and that you would't see me again?" Hanon began, seriously trying to not start tearing up.

Nagisa's face dropped a little. "I remember, I'm just glad that it didn't turn out like that. I don't exactly know what I'd do if I couldn't see you ever again."

The words were like a nail to Hanon's heart, as she put down her cup of tea and started crying. Nagisa put his down and drew her into a cuddle. "Did I say something wrong?"

Hanon took a few second to get herself to a level where she could talk. "No you didn't, it's just-" she couldn't bring herself to tell him the words she had to say.

Nagisa ran something back through his head a minute. Why on earth would she bring up that conversation from last year, and why would she be in utter tears? It took a couple of seconds for it to click into his head, and when it did, he wasn't too happy about it.

"Are you trying to tell me that it's going to happen again?" Nagisa asked in a low tone, now trying to hold it in himself.

Hanon almost burst at that point, but managed to get her words out this time. "Yes, and this time it won't be a false alarm. By Saturday, I'll have to return to my hometown, and there's no way you can return with me." Hanon buried herself into his lap, crying her heart out, making Nagisa start to cry to.

He was praying that she was joking about it, but it seemed this time that it was real. He wasn't going to pry today about why he couldn't go with her today, but before she had to leave he wanted an answer. He let her cry as he tried to stop himself from crying too.

* * *

 **\- Over with Masahiro -**

Rina had arrived just as a match was finishing up in the ring, with Masahiro declared the winner. Rina cheered for him, and he immediately spotted her, hopping out the ring and running over to the stairs to catch up to her.

"This is the first time in a while you've come here," Masahiro stated. "Any reason why?"

"I was hoping we could have a chat, there's something I really need you to know," Rina replied, Masahiro wondering what on earth it could be. He took her down into his private changing room and changed back into some more normal clothing, sitting down beside her on the bench in there.

"So what's up?" He asked.

Rina didn't quite know where to start really. "Do you remember how last year I said I might have had to leave you, and how it ended up being a false alarm?"

Masahiro wondered why she was bringing that up but went along with it. "I do yeah, I'm glad it wasn't real."

"What if I told you that by Saturday this week I was going to have to leave again, with no return, and no way for you to return with me?" Rina was desperately trying to hold back any tears from coming out.

Masahiro's eyes widened in shock of her words, his mouth dropping open, trying to comprehend what she'd just said to him. "Are you serious about it this time?"

"I don't want to be but I have to be," she replied, unable to hold back the tears. "It's been too long since I've been back to my hometown, we got a message that we have to return, and for good, we can't stay here anymore."

He pulled Rina into a hug, letting her know it was safe to cry. He wasn't too happy with what he'd just heard. Seemed like this time it was the real deal. "If that's how it has to be, we'll just have to spend the rest of your days here together and make them special." Masahiro finally let out the tears he was trying to hold back and all.

* * *

 **\- Back at the Pearl Piari -**

Luchia, Kaito and Nikora had finished putting all their shopping away, and their minds began to wonder over to Hanon and Rina. They all wondered if they were going to tell them today that they were leaving. If so, they would be in a right state when they got in. Not long after thinking this, Nikora and Luchia both received phone calls, one from Hanon and one from Rina.

Nikora left the kitchen to go and take her call whilst Luchia put her phone on speaker.

When Nikora had finished, she walked back in to find the pair just finishing up their call as well.

"Rina said she would be spending the night with Masahiro, she told him about the leaving and they said they wanted to spend some time together," Kaito said.

"Hanon pretty much said the same thing," Nikora replied. "I don't blame either of them in the slightest, they should spend all the time they can together. I never asked either of you yesterday, but how do you both feel now about the situation?"

Kaito was the first to speak. "Honestly, it was a huge shock, but I think it's going to be okay. It's in the best interest of the kingdom after all."

"Same thing here," Luchia joined in. "I'm still not totally okay with it all, but once I'm back home I'm sure it'll be different."

Nikora had a huge smile on her face. "Good to hear, I was worried after how the conversation went 2 nights ago."

* * *

The next day, Rina and Hanon returned home from their overnight stays. Both of them were still not okay with the situation they were in, but as princesses who had no choice, they manned up about it. Kaito had told Daisuke last night that he was leaving to go back to Luchia's hometown, and at school today, there was a formal announcement about their leaving. Whilst a lot of people were surprised about it and would have loved to known full details, Jacobs had forbid them to find them and talk about it. After all they were getting ready to leave the country.

Two more days past and before anyone knew it, it was Friday, the day before they had to leave. Whilst Hanon and Rina were desperate to spend their final night with their boyfriends, they opted against it, knowing it would bring too much pain for them. Both had had their breakfast and were sat down at the table in the kitchen in a slump. Luchia and Kaito had just woken up and headed down to get some food for themselves only to find those two like they were.

"Let me guess, still not over the fact they can't come with us?" Luchia asked.

"No, nothing of the sort..." Hanon began to say, her voice sounding kind of drone and monotone like.

"Yeah, it's nothing like that," Rina finished off. Both of them looked at each other with panic in their eyes, knowing that Luchia had hit it right on the note. They'd been trying so hard to hide their sadness from everyone else.

Luchia left the room and knew today had to be the day she would do what she'd been planning. She ran upstairs to prep what she needed, leaving Kaito confused with the girls.

"Listen Kaito," Rina called grabbing his attention. "We know full well that there's no way Masahiro or Nagisa could come with us. I speak for both of us when I say you have no idea how lucky you and Luchia are. It's incredibly painful for us to sit here and know that Luchia has you to take back with her."

Kaito was taken back a bit by their words, but he understood where they were coming from. If they hadn't have ever found out that Kaito was a being of the sea, Luchia would be in the exact same situation they found themselves in and he could see how painful it was for them.

"I'm sorry that there's nothing I can do about it," Kaito replied sounding quite sad.

"Don't be," Hanon pipped. "We're sorry for even bringing it up. But we just wanted someone to understand."

"Kaito!" Luchia called from the top of the stairs. "Do you think you could come up here?"

"Coming!" He shouted back. "Sorry but I gotta go." He felt bad for leaving the girls in the state they were in. He rushed upstairs to find Luchia outside her room with the door closed. "You called?"

Luchia smiled at him. "Ever since Monday, I've been thinking about something. I know both of them are really down about the whole situation, and I wanted to find some way to try and cheer them up. Yesterday, I found the answer." She opened the room to her door and stepped inside, letting Kaito follow her in.

He wasn't quite prepared for what he saw. Propped up against the back wall was a massive book almost as large at the back wall itself, with images and text in a foreign language. But even taking one look at it, he could identify what it was written in. "Isn't this text ancient mermaid?"

"It is," Luchia replied. "The oldest text of our people. Any person from the sea can immediately recognise what it is, but rarely are their people who can read it. I'm one of those rare few." Kaito looked to her in pure shock, but let her carry on.

"There's something I should tell you before I go into details about the book and my plan." Luchia sat Kaito down on her bed and prepared herself for what she had to say. "There are secrets in the sea world that certain mermaids are sworn to secrecy with. The mermaid world is not just females, but also males as well. In other words, there are mermen out there."

Kaito wasn't quite sure what to make of her words for a minute, but before he could say anything, she carried on her explanation.

"I've known for a long time about the secret. When I was young, the upper officials of the Kingdom introduced me to the higher ups from you clan, the clan that serves our Kingdom in times of need. And when I met them, there were a couple there that had tails just like us. It was quite a shock to find out there were men out there just like us, but for some reason it was to be kept a secret."

Kaito digested the information as best as he could. "As cool as that all is, why tell me if it's a secret you're not meant to tell?"

"It ties into what's written in that book," she replied. "There's a legend as old as time in our world, of a mermaid who revealed herself to a human and turned into bubbles as a punishment for doing so. Think back to our school play."

Kaito began thinking about it, they had played out a very similar tale, and he remembered how true the words Luchia spoke back then were, feeling pretty bad about it. "Yeah I remember it."

"There is some truth to the legend, but most of it is all a lie," Luchia revealed, watching as Kaito's eyes went wide in shock. "I didn't find out about this until a couple of days ago, it was written down in the book. The legend was mainly all made up by the founders to scare mermaid away from ever possibly revealing the secret to humans. A mermaid did once reveal herself to a human, but the outcome was much different." Luchia took a small breather to tell him the last bit she needed to say. "As for the book, when I'd gotten lost in Gaito's castle, I'd stumbled into a library and found that book. The whole front cover was written in ancient mermaid, the book being called Forbidden Rituals. It was just a tiny thing but when I opened it to read its contents, it grew to the massive size you see it in. I used magic to keep it with me even after we left and kept it locked away in my desk."

She gave him a minute to let all of it sink into his head. "You know even after all that I didn't really get my answer Luchia," Kaito said with his brain hurting a little.

"I'm really sorry," she replied in a flustered tone. She stood up and went back over to the book. "I know it was a long winded story but I kinda needed to tell you all of that. You see, there's a ritual in here that can turn a human into a merperson but with a cost. A mermaid must reveal themselves to a human, and within 24 hours, that human must either accept or not. If they don't accept the offer, then the mermaid who revealed herself will turn into bubbles, essentially dying. If they do accept, then the human is bound in death to the mermaid and is turned into one of them."

Kaito completely froze up at her words. "That's seriously a thing that can be done?!"

"Yes seriously," Luchia replied with a smile.

"So... you plan on telling Hanon and Rina and get them to reveal themselves to Nagisa and Masahiro so that they can return with us?"

"Exactly my plan," Luchia cheered.

"It's awesome and all but are you really going to run the risk of them saying no? It's a life or death ritual you're talking about there," Kaito warned her.

Luchia thought on it for a few seconds, but asks Kaito a simple question. "If I was going to have return to sea, and you were just a normal human, say I'd revealed myself to you and put this ritual on you, what would you say?"

"Of course I'd say yes, after all-" Kaito began to say until Luchia interrupted him.

"My point is proven," she said with a huge smile on her face. "The love they have for each other is just as strong as ours, there's no way they'd say no to it."

Kaito realised she was right about it. They loved each other all too much to let one of them go. Sure it was going to be a life changing proposition, but one that would be for the best. "I do just have one question though, how exactly is the ritual performed."

"I've known for a while know that I'm Aqua Regina's eventual successor, her blessing is a way for me to activate the rituals. I plan for Hanon and Rina to see them both and reveal themselves. When they do, my blessing of knowing this ritual will start the 24 hours they have to say yes," Luchia explained. "Think you could head back downstairs to grab them?"

Kaito smiled and rushed off downstairs to drag Rina and Hanon up into Luchia's room. Once they were in there and both in the same shock Kaito was when he saw the huge book, he decided to leave them to it.

As he headed into the kitchen to finally grab a bite to eat, his mind began to wonder to what Luchia had bought up. Why was the existence of mermen a secret to only a select rare few? Why was it such a bad thing? Lucky for him, Nikora had just appeared from her slumber.

"Nikora, can I ask you something?" Kaito asked as she came into the kitchen.

"I've just woken up but go ahead," she replied sounding very groggy.

"It's just... is there any real reason why the existence of mermen is kept a secret?"

"Oh that," she responded nodding her head. "You see, there was this war when the clans were all founded, it didn't make mermen look very good sadly. Overtime though, people had become more accepting of them, realising most of what happened wasn't their fault. Even I'm not sure why it's still kept a secret, if you ask me there's nothing wrong with it all nowadays. I guess it's just tradition."

"I see, well thank you for the information," Kaito said as he stuck the kettle on for her.

 _*Hang on just a minute,*_ Nikora thought. _*Why is he asking about this all of a sudden? Furthermore how the heck did he find out? Sure he's a clan member but there's no way he would have actually known of their existence.*_

It was far too early in the morning for this but she headed upstairs to try and find the girls. To her surprise, none of them were in their rooms, and by the time she headed back downstairs, Kaito seemed to have gone as well. She'd twigged that Luchia must have been the one to tell him they existed, and if they were all gone, it might have had something to do with Nagisa and Masahiro. She would just have to wait until they got back to find out just what was going on, especially since they were leaving tomorrow.

* * *

Kaito had finally caught up to the girls when they were only a couple of minutes away from Nagisa's place.

When they arrived, they let Hanon step forward to ring the doorbell. She hesitated before pressing it, but did so. Nagisa appearing almost straight away.

"Hey, what's the occasion for all four of you turning up to mine?" Nagisa asked. "I thought you only had one more day before you have to go anyway." He tried his best to hide his feelings about it all still.

Hanon took a step forward. "Nagisa, we need to talk," she said with a rather affirmative voiced.

Nagisa was a little shocked by this. Hanon never usually spoke like this unless something was really serious, and with only 1 day before them going, he really questioned what they could possibly need to talk about. He let all of them inside and got them all sat down around the couches in the room. It was very quiet as Hanon was having trouble getting herself to speak. Nagisa decided that silence needed to be broken.

"Hanon what's going on here? You never come over with Luchia, Rina and Kaito, plus you seem kind of nervous. I know you have to leave tomorrow and I know you must be feeling awful, but whatever's wrong you need to tell me." He slung his arm over her shoulder to see if she would respond.

"Listen Nagisa, I'm not who you really think I am..." Hanon began to say but paused, afraid to go any further.

"What do you mean?" Nagisa asked as he removed his arm off of her.

"I'm not actually a human. In truth, I'm really a... mermaid!"

* * *

 **Demonika: Phew... took a few detours there from the original version but man I am happy to have that play out like this instead. I'm not kidding when I say it's taken me like half a year to actually start writing this again, the ideas were all sat there in a little notepad document just waiting to be written out, so man am I happy that I did it.**

 **Luchia: I'm happy for you as well. We were starting to feel all lonely and left out.**

 **Demonika: I am sorry but when life gave me all those lemons I couldn't make that into lemonade (I actually do hate fizzy or sour drinks seriously), but now I'm back on a decent path, writing every now and then is back on the cards.**

 **See you all for chapter 3!**


	3. Chapter 3: An offer you can't refuse

**Demonika: Like I've said before, I literally have nothing to say. Just that I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it's where I mainly took a deviation from the original.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: An offer you can't refuse**

"I'm not actually a human. In truth, I'm really a... mermaid!" Hanon managed to finally say, her face flustered in shock that she actually welded up the courage to say it.

Nagisa just stared in shock at what Hanon had just told him. Why would she suddenly say something like that?

"Hanon, you'd better be joking about this, there's no way you're actually a mermaid right?" Nagisa asked, praying that it wasn't true and that it was just a joke.

"Well it figures you would say that," Luchia said whilst she grabbed a glass of water from his kitchen. "Hanon ,think you could come over here?"

Hanon stood up completely blank faced and walked over to her taking a seat on the wooden chair that was in there, Nagisa standing up as well.

"Luchia what exactly are you..." Nagisa began to say before Luchia suddenly tipped the glass of water over Hanon's head, the cold water rushing down her body, steadily transforming her into her mermaid self.

Nagisa could only watch in disbelief as her legs began to glow with a blue tint and formed into her tail, along with her growing hair and her clothes disappearing leaving her with her head down, refusal to look up. Nagisa couldn't bring himself to say anything, he just stood there staring at Hanon. All this time he'd be going out with her for the last two years she was actually a mermaid. It explained a few things to him about what had happened in the past, but opened up so many gates to new questions.

As soon as Hanon looked up and made eye contact with the frightened Nagisa, a strange silver tight choker appears around Hanon's neck and clamps itself to her pretty tightly, the front of it bearing a small digital timer set to 24 hours. Moments later, Nagisa watched in awe as the same countdown is carved into his right wrist, and watched as it ticked into 23:59.

Before he can even question the strange timer, he looked back up to Hanon who is still a mermaid barely sat on the chair, Luchia now no longer behind her and back on the couch with the others. "What exactly is going on here?"

Hanon even though she had looked at him before couldn't bring herself to look up at him again, so Rina took over. "She would have told you before had she known she was able to. Usual mermaid mythology states a mermaid cannot reveal themselves to a human or else they'll-"

"Turn into bubbles," Nagisa finished off, everyone staring up at him, even Hanon managed to bring herself to do so when she heard him say that. "Which is why I'm so confused. I mean yes, finding out you're a mermaid is a huge shock to me, but from what I've read, I was dead scared inside when you said so."

"If it's any consolation to you, that legend isn't true at all," Luchia said to calm him down.

Nagisa turned his head round to Luchia questioning how they knew stuff like this, but turned his attention to back to Hanon. "So this explains why you said I couldn't come with you. You're returning back home, to the sea."

"I am yes," Hanon finally spoke. "I know I said before that you couldn't come with me, but there might be a loophole around it."

Nagisa wondered what on earth it could be, and just let Hanon continue.

"This weird choker and these timers, if you say within 24 hours that you want to come with me, we can turn you into a merman. But if you say no, then I'll die."

A thick silence hung in the air as Hanon spoke those words, Nagisa's eyes going wide in fear over what she'd just said to him. He didn't know what to say at all, his girlfriends life hung in the balance of a simple yes or no question, but one that wasn't so simple. Either turn into a merman or let Hanon die.

Nagisa cleared his throat and walked over to Hanon who still had yet to de-transform. He lowered himself down and pulled her into hug. "It's not an answer I can give you straight away. I wish that I could just give you one right now but I can't. But I promise you, before these 24 hours are up, before you leave, I will give you the answer."

Hanon's eyes well up as she hugs him back. "Of course I understand, I had to think whether I really wanted to give this option to you or not. I don't expect you to tell me straight away."

"Thank you," Nagisa says as he lets go of her and smiles at her. "So, a real mermaid then?" He asked, trying to be calm about the whole situation and what offer had just been tossed at him.

"As real as I can be," Hanon smiled back, her tears disappearing. Moments later she finally transformed back into her human self.

"As lovely as the moment between you two is, we should really get going," Rina called as she and Luchia stood up and moved towards the door.

"Sorry but I really do have to go now, but I'll see you tomorrow morning before I go?" Hanon asked as she stood up.

"You will, and with an answer too," Nagisa replied, giving her a kiss before she rushed over to join her friends. They all began to leave until Nagisa called out. "Kaito wait a minute."

He stopped in his tracks and poked his head back round the door. "What's wrong?"

"Could I talk to you for a second?" Nagisa asked.

Kaito turned his head to Luchia to check with her. "It's fine, you know where we're going, we'll see you later."

He smiled at her and closed the door, looking back over to Nagisa.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," Nagisa said as he sat back down on the couch.

Kaito let out a sigh as he joined him. "Where exactly do you want me to begin with it all? And why not ask one of the girls to stay and talk instead?"

Nagisa looked up in surprise at his response. "So I'm right then. All three of are mermaids?"

It was Kaito's turn to look back over to him. "I'm surprised you twigged it. But yes, you are correct about that."

"Are all three of them returning to the sea?" Nagisa asked.

"Yep," Kaito replied bluntly.

"And what about you? I see no timer on your wrist with any offer of going with. You're Luchia's boyfriend after all, and there's no way you wouldn't be going with her if Hanon did what she just did." Nagisa's mind was all jumbled up.

Kaito could see he was a bit flustered by all of it, and he didn't blame him one bit either, he was in a pretty tight spot right now. "I am still going with them, it shouldn't be any surprise to you if I told you I'm not a human."

Nagisa was a little shocked at first to hear those words but he brushed them off pretty quickly. "It is a little bit, but after all this, really not surprised at all." He glanced down to the timer on his wrist. "There's no way I'm could say no to her but... does the offer really have to be so extreme?"

"Magic should never be taken lightly. It's a pretty powerful thing too, the ability to turn a human into a merperson with a yes or no answer. It seems insane that it's a thing but it is," Kaito responded. He slung his arm over Nagisa. "All I can say to you is just think about it. It's up to you what you say." He took his arm off and stood up, walking over to the front door.

"I get you're really shocked by everything that's happened, but I hope you find your answer." Kaito opened the door and left, leaving Nagisa in a slump.

The last thing he had expected to find out was that his girlfriend and her friends were all mermaids who one of them had a boyfriend that wasn't human either. It was a huge shock to the system, and now he had less than 24 hours to either turn himself into a merman and go with Hanon or let her die? It all felt like too much for him. He decided he would take a walk down to the beach and think about it.

* * *

 **\- Over at Masahiro's -**

"Are you serious? You're a mermaid?" Masahiro asked in shocked as Rina revealed the same thing that Hanon had said.

"I'm serious," she replied as she took the glass of water near her and poured it over herself, taking a deep sigh as she transformed into her mermaid self right before Masahiro's eyes. Seeing how it had been done before, she made immediate eye contact with a slightly frightened Masahiro as the same sort of choker that was around Hanon's neck appeared around hers, and the similar digital countdown being carved onto Masahiro's right wrist too.

"The heck?" Masahiro asked as he looked down at his wrist in surprise at the countdown on it. He looked back up to Rina who now refused to look at him as she balanced herself on his sofa. "How come you never told me about this before?"

Rina worked up the courage to look at him. "I didn't think I was able to before. There was always this legend that a mermaid would essentially die if she told a human who she really was. But, it turns out it isn't true, and that there's more to that legend than believed." She took a quick breather before she told him the deal. "I know I said I'm returning home, but you now have the chance to come with me."

Masahiro let out a sharp but silent gasp at those words. Was such a thing possible? "How exactly?"

"If you say yes to the terms that the choker and the timers come with, you can be turned into a merman. But if you say no, then I really will die." Rina turned her head away having to say the last line.

He didn't quite know what to say. "And you're serious about this? Something like that is actually possible if I said yes?"

"It is. I don't expect you to be able to give me an immediate answer. You do have 24 hours, and we're set to leave tomorrow morning," Rina explained. Before she could say anything else, Masahiro launched himself into a hug with her.

"Thank you. I know you said you don't expect me to say it now, but I really need to think this over, so thank you," he said, holding her as she transformed back into a human. Now able to balance normally, she wrapped her arms around him.

"And thank you for being understanding," Rina replied back.

He let go of her and looked over to Hanon and Luchia. Hanon's choker was covered up the turtle neck on her jumper. "So, am I to take it you two are mermaids as well?"

"We are yes," Luchia replied. "And we'd all love to stay here some more but we really do have to go now." She stood up and headed out of the lounge, Hanon following. Rina was about to follow but Masahiro held her back a second.

"Like I said, I can't say yes or no right now, but I do promise before you go tomorrow that I will give your answer." He gave Rina one last kiss and let her go.

* * *

 **\- Back at the Pearl Piari -**

"I'm home!" Hippo screamed as he threw open the front door, only to be greeted by pure silence. "Is no one in?"

Kaito came running down the stairs after hearing the noise. "Hippo, welcome home."

"Is no one else home? I did tell everyone the time I'd be returning. And where could they all be we're returning tomorrow," he asked Kaito.

"Well, everyone is kinda out on last minute business, I guess it just slipped their minds with what time you were coming back," Kaito replied. _*Good thing I returned here instead of following the girls, or else I'd have been in trouble with him for forgetting.*_

Hippo stood completely blank for a few seconds before turning to the front door. "I think a need a breather," he said as he walked out.

Kaito stared at him as he walked away. "But you just got back..."

* * *

 **\- Down on the beach -**

Even though Hippo had not long since been in the ocean, it was his favourite place to come and look over to calm himself down. He was a little upset that no one was really there besides Kaito when he got home, but with only one day left before they were gone, what did he expect? They were all probably spending as much time with their friends as possible.

As he approached the beach, he could see someone staring out over the ocean. Moving a little closer, he recognised who it was. "Hey, isn't that Hanon's boyfriend?" He asked himself, moving a bit closer to just behind a rock.

He notices that he seemed to keep staring down at his wrist, and after moving a little closer, finally sees why he keeps staring out it. Hippo lets out a small scream but immediately ducks back behind the rock he was standing on as Nagisa whips his head around having heard the noise.

"What was that just now?" Nagisa asked out loud as Hippo his behind the rock in fear of what he saw. He knew exactly what that timer on his wrist was, and boy was he angry now. He rushed off back home and slammed the doors wide open, rushing into the kitchen to find Kaito sitting down gazing into space.

"You have some explaining to do Kaito!" Hippo screamed grabbing his attention.

"What's wrong?" Kaito asked, honestly wondering what on earth he done wrong.

"All you can say is what's wrong?! Do you have any idea what you lot have potentially done?!"

"Hey hey! What's with all the noise?" Nikora asked as she came down into the room, seeing Hippo staring angrily at Kaito. "Oh, I see you finally returned. Honestly surprised you didn't stay at the palace."

"I'm glad that I chose not too and went to the trouble of telling you when I'd be back, I return and no one's here, then I go off to the beach and I see a human with a blood pact ritual timer on their wrist. What on earth where you lot thinking?" Hippo asked with his temper rising.

"Blood pact ritual?" Nikora asked. Her mind jolted back to earlier when Kaito had asked her about the existence of mermen, and then all 4 of them disappearing. "You didn't did you?" She had one hell of a death gaze at Kaito.

* * *

 **\- Over at a cafe -**

The three girls had decided to take a breather after what they'd done.

"So, are you two okay?" Luchia asked.

"Sort of I guess. I feel happy that I gave him the option, but part of me can't help but think what if he says no," Hanon replied, practically hugging her coffee cup.

"I'm the same way. It's a massive offer we gave them, I don't even think both of them could comprehend at first that we were actually mermaids, let alone the mere fact that they exist in the first place," Rina replied too. "But tell me this. What exactly do we tell Nikora when she finds out? You honestly think we can keep this chokers hidden from her?"

The thought hadn't even crossed Luchia's mind. "I guess we'll just have to be truthful with her about it. It's like I said, there's no way they'll say no."

"I hope you're right," Rina said as she finished off her coffee. "Should we just go get that over and done with then?"

The other two agreed, throwing away their empty cups and leaving the cafe to head home and tell Nikora, hoping she wouldn't go crazy.

* * *

 **\- Back at the beach -**

Masahiro had decided to take a bike ride down to the beach as well. The offer hadn't fully sunken into his head yet, and he needed some fresh air to clear his head. As he parked up his bike, he looked down to see someone else already at the beach, just standing there.

He heads on down and just as the person begins walking away, they catch Masahiro looking at them.

"Nagisa, right?" Masahiro asked.

"Yeah, and you're Masahiro?" Nagisa asked back. Both of them had never really spoken much, but both of them knew who they were and the fact they were the boyfriend of both girls.

Before either of them could say another word, both of them realised something, if they had been given the offer to be turned into a merman, had the other one too? Neither of them brought it up and carried on a normal conversation.

"How come you were here just staring out at the ocean? Something on your mind?" Masahiro asked breaking the silence between them.

"Yeah kinda," Nagisa replied being very careful about what he said. "I have a decision I need to make, but I'm quite scared about it. The good side of the decision isn't so good for me personally."

Masahiro finds it a little odd but replies to him. "Similar thing here. There's a really obvious answer but I'm kinda scared to go along with it." He looks over to Nagisa to seem his staring down at his wrist.

Before Nagisa can do anything about it, Masahiro stepped closer and grabbed his wrist, dragging it closer to his face. His eyes widen at seeing the timer etched into it, Nagisa looking at him with pure fear covering his face. Masahiro swiftly lets go and apologies. "Looks like you and I are in the same boat," he says as he shows Nagisa his own left wrist, a similar timer etched into it as well but some time out.

"I was right in what I thought then," Nagisa said openly. "I didn't wanna bring it up in case it hadn't happened but seems like it has."

"Indeed. Less than 24 hours to say yes or no," Masahiro replied.

"Either say yes to becoming mermen, or our girlfriends die," Nagisa finished off. "I mean, theoretically, what would be do about our lives here? Family, friends, studies? It's not like we know if we're going to be bound to the seas forever or not if we said yes, there's so much to consider."

"There may be, but I'm sure there's one thing we both know," Masahiro replied. "The answer was always going to be yes."

Nagisa looked at him and nodded. "Yeah, the second she told me, I just wanted to say yes right there and then but, I'm scared by it. I mean it'd be a whole new life."

"Same thing here," Masahiro replied. He looked out over the ocean at the setting sunset. "But then again, a life beneath the waves might not be so bad, it actually sounds kinda cool don't ya think?"

"It does when you think about it. Even the thought of there being a whole mythical race out there in the ocean, that's cool enough to begin with," Nagisa stated, taking a step forward, letting the ocean wash over his feet. "I don't know about you, but tonight I'm saying goodbye to my family and tomorrow morning, I'll give Hanon my answer."

Masahiro took a step forward too, joining him. "Same thing here, I'll say goodbye to my coach and do the same for Rina. How about we both meet up outside that little cafe not far from them?"

"The one that does those awesome slushies dirt cheap?" Nagisa asked, just making sure he knew which one they were talking about.

"That one indeed," Masahiro chuckled. "You wanna go grab one now before heading home?"

Nagisa took him up on the offer as both headed back to the small parking lot and hopped on Masahiro's bike to take a ride for their last treat.

* * *

As the three girls approached the Pearl Piari, they could make out Nikora and Hippo standing outside, almost as if they were waiting for them. Luchia ran ahead a little to greet them. "Hey Nikora-"

"What on earth were you three thinking?!" She shouted at them, Luchia stopping dead in her tracks. Hanon and Rina ran a bit to catch up, Nikora eyeing the two of them up, noticing both had their necks covered up. "Show me your necks."

Hanon and Rina were scared to do so, but both pull down their tops/ jumper to reveal the chokers bound to them. Nikora's eyes widen in fear as it seems Hippo was correct about what they'd done.

"I am extremely disappointed in you all. To think that you as mermaid princesses would put your lives on the line for two mere humans," Nikora scorned.

Both girls lower their heads in shame refusing to look back up at her. Luchia stepped forward to speak for them. "Nikora you shouldn't blame them, if anyone you should blame me. I'm the one who found the forbidden rituals book. I'm the one who could read its contents and I'm the one ultimately who can pull it all off the end. Don't blame them, blame me for giving them the option."

Nikora is honestly surprised when Luchia steps up to take the blame. My how she'd grown. "I agree with you on that. Without you, this wouldn't be a thing right now. I wouldn't have 2 of the 7 princesses with death wishes." Even Luchia at this points steps back in shame. "I am still incredibly mad at this moment, but part of me understands."

All three girls and even Hippo look up to her. "I've done reckless things in the past too that have put me in danger. I mean sure this one completely takes the cake, but I understand nonetheless. I just pray both the boys you've made the pact with understand, and I hope for all of your sakes that they say yes." Nikora then just walks away to calm herself down, Hippo following her with nothing to say himself either.

"That could have gone a lot worse," Hanon pointed out. "But she is right, it is incredibly reckless of us."

"I already said I was the one fully to blame for all of this, so don't worry," Luchia replied, flashing them both a smile. She headed back inside and went upstairs to Kaito's room. She knocked on the door but heard no response. She thought he might have fallen asleep and not wanting to wake him up, heads into her own room.

Tomorrow was the day. The day they would all leave the human world for good and return to what was their once normal life under the waves.

* * *

 **\- Down at the beach -**

Nikora herself had decided to come down to get a breath of fresh air, but also to find someone. Ever since she'd heard Hippo say the girls had done what they'd done, he hadn't been seen. He left the place pretty quickly, but she had a hunch if he'd be anywhere, he'd been down at the spot where him and Luchia first really met all those years ago. And to her surprise, there he was.

"Hey," she called out, grabbing his attention. Kaito looked behind him to see Nikora walking down towards him, though he turned his back to her in shame. She walked up along side him and put her hand on his shoulder. "They came back and confirmed what they did. I'm not exactly angry you know, just disappointed in a way."

"I see," Kaito replied, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off of him hearing that.

Nikora sensed he felt better hearing that and stared out over the ocean. The way the sea was illuminated by the moon was breathtaking. "Lovely sight huh?"

"It really is. Just a shame it's the last time we'll see it like this," he responded.

"I guess yeah," she said as she remembered something. "I don't exactly know why I've kept this hidden from you since I've known but, us going back to the palace isn't a permanent thing forever for a little while."

Kaito looked up to her in shock. "Seriously? Why not tell us?"

Nikora searched in her head for an answer. "I guess I didn't tell you because I thought you wouldn't take it all seriously if you knew the full truth, especially Luchia. We have to remain fully for a year to see to things, then you have 10 years of being ashore. But once those 10 years are up, it's goodbye surface world for good. The council had a tough time coming to this decision, it's what Hippo had gone to talk about. We kept in contact and he got the confirmation about it three days ago. I did want to tell you but like I said, I guess part of me thought you wouldn't take this year seriously."

Kaito digested the information as best he could. "I can understand you there, I'm pretty sure Luchia wouldn't take it seriously at all if she knew, she'd be counting down every day until we were allowed to return. But why only 10 years ashore after?"

"You know, 10 years is a pretty long time, they were generous enough to let the girls all remain on land for 4 years in the first place, so 10 is really more than enough," Nikora explained. "I said it right at the start last week, we are all bound to sea, we cannot remain on land forever. The 10 years are quite free by the way, it's just 10 years worth of time ashore, and you spend it how you will. But once you're 10 years are up, that's really it."

Kaito looked back out over the ocean. "This might not be so bad then." He smiled as he thought about the new experience.

"Oh yeah, there is one thing I wanted to ask you, a topic you brought up earlier this morning. Why were you asking me about mermen? I'm guessing Luchia must have told you about it, and that it must have been when she was telling you about what she had planned for Nagisa and Masahiro, but I just want to know," Nikora asked.

"You are spot on with that," Kaito replied. "And there's something I want to ask you about it. Is it possible at all for clan member to get tails?"

Nikora was rather taken back by that question, but she tells him nonetheless. "It is possible, I'm not 100% sure how it happens but it's through some sort of trial. How that trial is triggered or undertaken or what it involves, I have no clue."

"I see, thank you for telling me what you know though," Kaito replied.

"You jealous of the boys or something?" Nikora teased.

Kaito finally threw the hand she had on his shoulder off. "It's not like that. It would just be a lot easier is all, but if it's through some sort of trial then not much I can do there."

Nikora just smiled at him, he was rather cute to tease. She looked back out over the ocean again. "You ready for tomorrow then?"

"Truth, I'm still kinda scared. When I was saved by Luchia when I just a little kid, I didn't think I would ever go on to find again, let alone stand to now be married to her. And yeah, it's scary. Sure it's easy enough for you lot to just go back home, but even though the sea is supposed to be my home too, land will always be the one I've known the most. It is only for a year and the time after as you say, but it's still a little scary yeah."

She puts his arm around him and drags him closer to her. "If you're lucky, you won't be alone in the experience. You'll have Nagisa and Masahiro to share it with. Even I know there's no way they'll say no, they all love each other way too much to say no."

Kaito looks to her and smiles. They pretty much all knew it. "Thanks for coming out here and finding me by the way."

"Don't mention it kid. Come on, we'd better go back and rest up for tomorrow. Big day after all." Nikora started walking back, Kaito following not far behind her.

When he got in, he headed upstairs and slowly opened the door to Luchia's room. She slipped into her bed alongside her, Luchia briefly waking up. She smiled knowing that Kaito was okay and fell back to sleep.

As Nikora had said, tomorrow was indeed the big day. They would all leave for their home, and Nagisa and Masahiro would hopefully be coming with them.

* * *

 **Demonika: Oh my god I am glad I finished this one! I had this one sort of half done when I had re-released this all, so it took a little while to try and piece it all together how I needed it to be.**

 **I don't know when I'll release chapter 4, because this is the point where I really need to fix stuff that I didn't like before and I don't quite have all of it planned out. So forgive me if it takes a while!**


	4. Chapter 4: A new life

**Demonika: Hello everyone. Just to say my updated might be a bit infrequent or non existent over the next month or so. Why? Well August birthday month central in my household for one. 3 of the 4 family members, me being one, have birthdays landing in August so that's always fun... and I'm currently on a lot of courses and support for real life stuff which is quite important. During my breaks though I'm trying my best to push forward with chapters. This one without a doubt so far has been the hardest one to think about, and in general, trying to make chapters a decent length and not too short has been kinda hard too. All I can say I hope you continue to enjoy this story.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: A new life**

The morning on that fateful day had rolled around. Today was the day all the girls were to return back home after what had been years away from it. It was a mixture of joy and sorrow. There was some small excitement in returning home, but at the same time, it was sad to leave the human world behind. On top of it all, there was still the matter of Nagisa and Masahiro. Whilst no one had many doubts that both would say yes, there was still a small part that wondered how it would go down.

Luchia woke up letting out a massive yawn, which in turn woke up Kaito, who immediately tackled her down, hovering over her. "What are you doing?" Luchia asked slightly annoyed whilst still groggy.

"Just saying good morning," he replied as he lent down to give her a kiss. As he did, Hippo pushed the door to the room open, Kaito's eyes wondering over as he pulled away, staring at Hippo who just stood still. Luchia eventually clocked onto this and turned her head over too, locking eyes with Hippo and giving him a glare.

"At least you're awake," Hippo said slowly as he walked away closing the door back over. Kaito hopped out of bed and slung on the nearby dressing gown, running off after Hippo, grabbing him by the neck and lifting him up to meet eye level.

"Listen, I know you've got a thing for just popping in on people, but do you at least think you could learn to knock?" Kaito asked as nicely as he could without getting angry at him.

"I think you should understand privacy is not something you will be afforded back home, whether you be at the palace or at your clans place," Hippo replied with a straight face completely unphased by Kaito's actions. "After all, you're a prince, and a soon to be king, so you'd better get used to it."

Kaito just sighed and put him back down on the floor, turning around to see Luchia standing by her door wondering what had just happened. "It's okay, nothing's wrong," Kaito said.

"I know Hippo can be like that, you'll just have to get used to it sorry," she replied back as she headed on downstairs for breakfast.

Kaito just stared dumbfounded at her as she walked away. He shook it off and went after her. Just as he started heading down, Rina opened her door walking out.

"Good morning," Kaito said with a smile.

"Mornin'," she replied back, sounding half asleep still.

"Bad night sleep?" Kaito asked as he continued heading down with Rina in tow.

"Can you blame me in the slightest? All I've been able to think about is the damn offer, kept me awake half the night second guessing myself." Rina touched the choker around her neck, hoping that everything would be okay.

"No, can't blame you at all," Kaito replied. "Guess we'll find out sooner or later." He reached the bottom and headed off into the kitchen, Rina stopping herself in her tracks. She'd never felt so scared before in her life. Yesterday she felt just okay, but as the timer drew nearer and knowing they were leaving in the next few hours, it was really getting to her. She jumped a little as she felt a hand come to her shoulder.

"I feel the same way," Hanon said trying to offer some comfort to her. She had just woken up and come out of her room as the two had their conversation on the stairs. "But I have to believe he'll say yes. If they don't come over in the next two hours, we'll call them up. Until then, let's just try to remain calm about it."

Rina had never known Hanon to put up such a brave front about it, but was happily surprised by it, smiling at her. "I guess you're right," she replied as both headed off into the kitchen as well to eat.

* * *

 **\- Out at the cafe nearby -**

Masahiro was sat down having a cup of tea looking out at the open ocean. He'd had to leave his coach a message since he was refusing to answer his calls. Finishing off his drink, his phone rang in his pocket, and would you know, it was his coach.

"Morning," Masahiro began to say, but his coach quickly took over.

"What's this I hear from your message? You're leaving?"! He screamed.

"Please calm down. I know it's extremely last minute and all, but I don't have much of a choice," Masahiro replied. He knew he had two options, but in truth, he ever only had one, one he intended to follow. "If there was anything I could do about it I would, but if I don't take this chance to follow my heart, I'll never get the chance again."

His coach had gone silent on the other end. "I understand, love is a powerful thing. I'm gonna miss you you know. You're one of the finest boxers I ever had the pleasure of training." Masahiro could hear him starting to tear up.

"You're not getting all sentimental on me are you?" Masahiro asked, teasing him.

"Of course I am!" His coach shouted back at him. "We had some good times together, the rest of the club sends their wishes as well. I gathered 'em all here just to say goodbye to you, I'll put it on speaker."

Masahiro sat there in silence as he listened to all of the farewells he got from everyone, from his veteran boxers and juniors who attended his smaller classes. Even he too began to tear up at it all.

"Thank you, everyone. I'm sorry that I won't be around to see you all going forward, but I wish you the best of luck with the club and with your personal progress. And coach, I'll miss you too. You've done so much for me since I started at the club, not a simple thank you will ever be enough for everything you've done, but thank you so much."

He listened as his coach broke down into a heap of tears, waiting for a response as someone else took the lead. "I know I'm not much of a person for words, but you take good care of your girl Masahiro, and tell her we all said best of luck putting up with you," one of his sparring partners said.

"Well thanks!" Masahiro replied sarcastically, letting out a small laugh that stopped his tears. "I think I'd better get going." He said as he looked up to see Nagisa taking a seat next to him.

"You take care kid!" His coach screamed still in tears. Masahiro had a big smile on his face as he said goodbye ending the call. He looked up to Nagisa who looked a little confused.

"I wasn't able to contact my coach last night, but he gathered up the whole club to say goodbye to me," he explained.

"Pretty sweet send off you got then," Nagisa replied back smiling.

"And what about you? How did your parents take it?" Masahiro asked.

"Well, not too well at first. When I told them that if I decided to go after Hanon it would be tomorrow morning, they weren't too please about how last minute it was. But they eventually came around to it, my dad knows what love does to a person, he said if he could at least see me once again in his life, he'd be happy, and that I'd bring Hanon with me for it," Nagisa replied. He took a short breather. "They did want to see me off with her, but I said just a simple farewell this morning when I left the house would be enough. They even called 'round my grandparents to say goodbye too, was quite the emotional farewell." He let a tear fall from the corner of his eye, brushing it away quickly.

"You don't have to worry about being sad you know, it's perfectly natural," Masahiro said to comfort him. Even he had gotten all teary at everyone saying goodbye to him as well.

Nagisa let a couple more tears fall, saying thank you to Masahiro. He'd kept it all in when saying goodbye to his family to seem strong for them.

"I do have one question for you, though I am unsure if you'll know or not," Masahiro said as he waited for Nagisa to stop the small tear flow. "It's about Kaito. He's Luchia's boyfriend after all, did he get the same offer as us?"

"There was no need for him to," Nagisa replied, peaking Masahiro's interest. "When Hanon came around to give me the offer, Kaito was with them as well. I stopped to talk to him for a small bit, and though he didn't state what he is, he just said he's not human."

Masahiro sat there for a second to take that in. "Can't say I surprised at all by that, but thank you." He'd had pretty much the same response to it that Nagisa did, sure it was a bit of a shock when they first heard it, but compared to everything else going on, it was just another thing to the pile.

"Regardless of all this, you ready to go give your answer?" Masahiro asked.

Nagisa rose up out of his seat, "as ready as I'll ever be."

Masahiro stood up with him, and both walked to the pearl piari in silence. Deep inside, both were still scared about the whole process. As Kaito had said to Nagisa, magic was a powerful thing, and shouldn't be taken lightly especially with what it was about to do.

* * *

 **\- Pearl Piari -**

Everyone was sat around in the kitchen waiting. Hanon and Rina had said they'd give them a while to see if they would turn up before calling them about it.

The doorbell rang.

Nikora said she would be the one to greet them if it was them. She stood up out of her seat and rushed to the door composing herself. As she opened it, it was indeed Nagisa and Masahiro.

"Welcome you two," she greeted. "I take it you're here to see off Hanon and Rina?"

"We are indeed," Masahiro replied. Nikora opened the door further, letting them both inside, telling them they were in the kitchen.

As the girls saw them come in, they immediately stood up and rushed to give them hugs.

"We were getting a little worried that you two wouldn't show up," Luchia said grabbing their attention. "Have you made up your minds?"

Both boys let go of their girlfriends and stood in front of Luchia. "Yes," they both said.

Nagisa went first, letting out a deep sigh to calm himself down. "My answer is yes."

"As is mine," Masahiro replied in turn.

Everyone in the room had wide smiles on their faces, the girls tearing up a little bit at hearing them say yes. The boys turned back around to give them another hug.

"Did any part of you honestly think we were going to say no to you?" Masahiro asked generally.

"Perhaps a small part did, but call it nerves more than anything else," Rina replied.

Luchia gave them all a minute to get over it. "As good as you both saying yes is, I'll need you four to follow me upstairs for the actual response and to transform you." She stood up and headed into her room, taking the pocket sized ritual book off of her shelf and propping up against her blank wall, letting the book grow to its full size. It was going to take a fair bit of concentration and power to pull it off correctly, but she was ready for her first ritual.

Everyone else followed up with Kaito leading them up, spotting Luchia outside her room with her door closed. "Is everyone ready?" she asked.

They all nodded their heads in response, Luchia opening the door, letting them all in.

Masahiro and Nagisa were taken back a bit by the massive book propped up against the wall, but the shock quickly wore off, it was going to be nothing compared to what was going to follow.

Kaito settled down on her bed, whilst Luchia had the others stand up facing each other. "Say, don't you think the door should be closed for all this?" Nagisa asked. When Nikora had invited them in, it wasn't like she said anything about their true intentions, just if they had come to say goodbye. Was she one of them, or was she not?

"I'm just going to take a bit of a stab in the dark here and say no one else in this place is human, are they?" Masahiro asked, looking over to Kaito specifically for confirmation of Nagisa's words to him earlier.

"Spot on," Kaito replied, realising why Masahiro had looked specifically at him.

"And with that little worry gone, we can finally begin," Luchia said putting all the attention on her. "Kaito? I know I didn't tell you before, but I'm going to need you to help me out. Just stand behind me and place your hands on my shoulders."

He was unsure as to why, but he did so anyway. Luchia let him stand with his back to the book, and took her place in front of him.

She placed her hands on the open pages of the book behind her, locking Kaito into place, and began chanting the ritual in ancient mermaid. As she did, they boys were spellbound by the language.

"Is it me, or do those words sound vaguely familiar to you?" Nagisa asked in a whisper, looking up to Masahiro.

"You feel the same way?" Masahiro whispered back in slight shock. Nagisa just nodded as both turned back to focusing on Luchia.

A few moments later, the pages began to glow softly, the light beginning to concentrate itself around Luchia's hands. The light turned into a fuchsia pink colour and engulfed her hands. Silver chains then began to wrap themselves up her arms, keeping her locked in place for the ritual. She closed her eyes and prepared herself.

"From the depths of the ocean did these mermaids rise and take to the land. Humans did they reveal themselves them to and offer up their lives on the line for a place among our world. Do you boys accept the terms of the ritual and in death bind yourself to these mermaids, and turns yourselves into mermen?"

"Yes," they both replied.

Luchia then opened her eyes, now turned a bright fuchsia pink, and the whole books glow turned the same colour. For Kaito, he could feel his mark on his forehead glowing brightly too. Realising what Luchia had wanted, he closed his eyes and focused solely on her.

"What on earth?" Nagisa asked looking over to Kaito and the strange mark on his forehead. Before anyone could respond, spots of light appeared under their feet, and all four of them were encased in bright pillars, all closing their eyes completely blinded by it. A shattering noise had filled the air as well. Once they all felt the light dim, they opened their eyes to find themselves somewhere else. Looking around, everyone had noticed the chokers and timers were all but gone; Luchia and Kaito were gone for them too, they almost felt like they were all floating in water, and to attest to it, the girls had been transformed into their mermaid selves. The space around them was all but white.

Looking over into the distance, they could see a figure approaching them. It was only once the figure got closer that the girls worked out who it was.

"Aqua Regina?" They questioned as the figure finally came into view, able to see that it was indeed her.

"My precious mermaid princesses, whilst this ritual is considered the most dangerous, full glad am I to see that you are here before me," she responded. She looked over to Nagisa and Masahiro. "As goddess of all merpeople, I welcome you two to our world."

The room became blindingly bright again, and all four shielded their eyes once more. When Hanon and Rina opened theirs, they found themselves back in Luchia's room, on the floor human again. They looked up in front of them to see Nagisa and Masahiro floating in two giant bubbles of water, white sparks of magic floating around inside of it, just waiting to work. Hanon glanced over to Luchia and Kaito. Whilst the glow had all but gone, Luchia was still chained to the book, panting heavily, Kaito trying his best to keep her stable with his own power. He took his hands off of her shoulders and instead hugged her tight, resting his head on her shoulder, fully committing all of his power to her. Her eyes shot back open, the books glow returning, her breath stable and the white sparks within the bubbles began to latch onto the boys.

The sparks enveloped their upper body and destroyed any clothing leaving them bare chested. The strange sparks then took to their legs, doing the same thing but leaving their legs encased in a white glow, pulling them together and seamlessly closing them in. Their feet turned into fins, and once done, the glow faded leaving tails the same colours as their respective girlfriends, if nothing a darker shade. Unlike the girls, there were no pearl beads around the base of the tail. The sparks proceeded to work their way up to their necks, creating a shell similar to that of the ones the mermaid princesses had but instead of cutesy like angel wings, black bat like shaped wings were there instead. The shells were a similar colour to their own tails. As the sparks finished creating, they strung themselves around the neck creating the string the shell would be attached too. Once done they moved away to cover up the outer layer of the bubble, and popped it, leaving the newly transformed boys to drop to the floor, suddenly bursting awake from the fall.

For Luchia, the chains retracted back into the pool of light the came from and disappeared, the light and glow on the book going with them. Once all gone, Luchia fell to the floor taking Kaito down with her, both panting extremely heavily.

Whilst everyone was concerned for them, all attention fell onto the boys, now transformed into mermen. They looked themselves over very thorougly, completely amazed by what had happened to them. They then looked to each other, smiling and not regretting the choice one bit. The girls came rushing over to them to give them hugs.

"I gotta say, you both look pretty good with tails," Hanon said, admiring how much cuter she thought Nagisa looked with one. Moments later, the tails faded, returning the boys to humans. Masahiro immediately had to take off his glasses, his vision was all blurred with them on. Taking them off, he could see as clear as day, and tossed them to one side. Rina had seen him plenty of times without his glasses on before, but man did she think he was hotter without them on.

With that matter out of the way, Luchia and Kaito still lay as they did when they fell down, though their panting was a lot less heavy. Luchia was able to look up at them all, "did it work?" she asked.

"It did," Nagisa replied. "Though I'm a little more worried about you, you seem exhausted."

"I was told once upon a time that ritual magic was hard to pull of, and yeah, it's absolutely draining to do. It's why I asked Kaito to help me, to at least keep me stable, but even he came to be in the same state as me." Luchia looked over he shoulder to find him just propping himself up.

"I wish you would have told me beforehand you were going to use my powers to keep yourself going," Kaito said still catching his breath a little. He managed to stand up, pulling Luchia up as well, both taking a seat on the bed. Without a moments notice, Nikora came in.

"I take it it all went as planned then?" She asked, looking over to Nagisa and Masahiro who were now stood up next to their girlfriends.

"Yup," Hanon replied with a big grin on her face. "You mind if we take them out just to teach them?"

"Be my guest, we still have a good hour or so before we really need to leave," Nikora replied, standing out of the way to let them go off. "As for you two, Madam Taki wishes to see you, some sort of gift."

Both were quite surprised by this, and Kaito didn't even know who she was but went along with it anyway. Both stood up and left to go see her.

Luchia knocked on the door, Taki telling them to enter.

"Nikora said you wanted to see us?" Luchia asked, Taki nodding back at her. She looked over to Kaito.

"Though we may have never met, I know who you are, Panthalassa Prince of the seas. I have a small gift for you, courtesy of both Luchia and Nikora." She paused for a minute and pulled out from under her table a necklace with a red conch shell attached to the end of it. "Nikora had informed me you were asking about ways in which a clan member may have a tail, and Luchia herself had come to me seeking advice on the matter as well."

Kaito looked over in surprise at Luchia, herself looking back in surprise that he had asked about it.

"A perfect fit you two are for each other," Taki stated, drawing attention back to her. "These shells are not the most easiest to come by in the ocean, and their power is something most clan members would dream of having. Whilst there is still a trial randomly bestowed to members, and those who are born with one, there are a few you will find with tails wearing a necklace such as this. So long as the bearer has it on, they will be granted a tail, though I would advise only to wear it whilst in water."

Both were quite taken back by it, something like that really existed. Luchia thought back to the times she'd met mermen as a child, but she noted no such necklaces. "Did you go out of your way to find it for me?" Kaito asked.

Taki nodded to say no. "It was a gift passed down by my father. He told me if I ever met the right person, I was to give it them as a gift. Having now met you, I do believe you are the right person to take it." She motioned for him to step forward, and he did so.

She took his hand, placed the necklace in it, and closed it over. "Whilst I may not be following you back home, I do hope I will see you again one day young prince. Take care of Luchia."

Kaito looked down to the necklace he had given her, smiled, and looked back up to her. "I shall, thank you ever so much Taki. I too hope I will meet you again one day as well."

She smiled, something she rarely ever did, and told them both that they could go. As they stepped out, Nikora was there waiting for them, she was curious. "So, what exactly did Taki have for you?"

Kaito smiled and showed her the necklace, Nikora's eyes widening. "To think she was in possession of one of these... Extremely thoughtful of her. I didn't bring up these things to you as I thought it was a bit too much wishful thinking, sorry. I know that lot are out having a test of their new bodies, why don't you join them? I'll be coming with Hippo in about 10 minutes, then we're off." Nikora walked out into the kitchen to finish looking over final checks. Whilst they were gone for the year, Taki would be leaving to visit the world, so Nikora contracted in an old friend to oversee its well being for the year.

Luchia and Kaito rushed off outside, with Luchia diving into the ocean first, curious to see how Nagisa and Masahiro had turned out. Kaito walked out and swam into a general area of deeper water, pulling the necklace out of his pocket. He hesitated for a moment, but put it over his neck anyway, the shell beginning to glow red. He felt fine for a moment until he suddenly felt a bit light headed, his body shutting down as he sank beneath the waves, the glow pulsing on and off. He did not go unnoticed by Masahiro, who shouted out as his name and rushed towards him, quite concerned for him. As he got close, the pulsing glow suddenly exploded, knocking Masahiro back a fair bit, and encasing Kaito in a red bubble, with no one able to see him inside. Rina herself rushed in to make sure Masahiro was okay after he charged off like he did. Hanon and Nagisa soon followed, taken back when they saw the huge bubble. Luchia eventually joined them having not seen what happened with Kaito, all waiting in anticipation.

Meanwhile inside the bubble, everything around Kaito was just red. Much like with what had happened with the boys, white sparks appeared and latched onto his chest, dissolving his clothes. He winced a bit at it, they were causing a small bit of pain. As before, they moved their way onto his legs, bringing them together, forming the tail, and once done, left him with one the same as they boys but the same strong red as the conch shell. The sparks then moved to the outer layer of the bubble and pushed out, destroying it, leaving Kaito back in the ocean with his back to everyone.

He took a few moments to look himself over, he felt amazing as he was, like a void had been filled. He turned around to see everyone staring at him, Luchia blushing a fair bit. "What?"

"What exactly just happened?" Nagisa asked confused. Kaito had said to him that he wasn't human, but from what just happened, he wasn't a merman either, so what was he?

"It'd be long to try and explain it all, but to put it short, it's not just merpeople who live in the sea, it's all sorts of other things, including clan members, essentially humans who live underwater you could say," Kaito explained briefly. "Not all clan members can ever get a tail, but the necklace was a gift from someone, and with it a clan member can essentially have one whilst wearing it."

"As nice as your explanation is, it's time we get moving on now that that's done," Nikora said as she pulled herself alongside Kaito, making him jump a little. "The tail suits you quite a lot actually," she stated as she pushed away, moving on to lead the group to Luchia's home with Hippo in tow. Kaito gave a sharp flick of his tail and rushed ahead in the group to catch up to Luchia.

"If it weren't for the necklace as a dead giveaway, you'd think you'd been like this all your life," Luchia said, noticing just how well he was doing.

He just smiled back at her, it felt incredibly natural to him given all the time he'd spent around the girls. After a while, Nikora asked to discuss something with the girls, some of the finer details about their duties whilst being at Luchia's palace. Kaito decided to drop back and have a chat with the boys.

"So, how are you two finding it?" He asked openly

"If I'm perfectly honest, all of it feels like a dream, incredibly unrealistic that this is all happening," Nagisa said. "But at the same time, it just feels incredible."

"Same thing here, it's not something you could ever imagine happening really, and right now, I wouldn't have it any other way," Masahiro replied.

Kaito smiled at their responses, he'd felt the same way for a long time.

They all went quite a long time in silence, just enjoying the feeling.

"Not long now, we're almost there," Nikora called. "Should be appearing in the distance any minute."

And she was right, not long after she'd said it, the bright glow of the castle shon in the distance, everyone speeding up to see it. Nagisa and Masahiro were in pure amazement that such a structure as her palace was real. Luchia looked on, tears forming in her eyes that faded into the water moments later. She pushed on with mighty speed eager to see everyone, now all excited that she was home.

"Luchia wait!" Nikora shouted, then realising that Luchia really didn't care, taking off after her, everyone else following.

As she swam through the archway and through the open doors, she immediately saw someone she knew.

"Yukari!" Luchia called grabbing her attention.

Yukari spun around only to be tackled to the ground by Luchia's hug. She was surprised for a moment but retorted. "Gee you go from not remembering me to body slamming me to the floor in the space of one week?" She let out a small giggle afterwards to tell Luchia she was fine with it.

Luchia still got off of her and let her get back up apologising. "I'm finally home."

* * *

 **Demonika: So there is more that I could have put at the end but I honestly want to save it all for the next chapter. If I carried on pushing on here, it's like where would I end it, cause it could have gone on for quite a bit more if I did. I will say like I said before, no promise for when the next chapter might be out, it'll just be out whenever my brain decides :)**


	5. Chapter 5: Life under the sea

**Demonika: Wew, Chapter 5 here we go. I must admit this is maybe the chapter and the following few that required the most thought as the set up for the next parts are what I feel really needed a damn good look over as I was never really satisfied with this section at all.**

 **And a big thank you to Incredible who reviewed on the last chapter, means quite a lot to me that you're enjoying this ^_^ I will admit, this chapter is one of those set up chapters, not ones that I like doing too much of, but it needs to be done.**

 **So without further ado, on we go!**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Life under the sea**

Everyone else rushed themselves to catch up to Luchia, and found her having a talk with Yukari. As a mermaid, Yukari's hair was the same as it was when she was human, if not a bit longer, and her tail was a light pastel peach colour. Luchia had suddenly noticed that she was staring over her shoulder and turned back around to find everyone huddled up in the entrance way.

Yukari's eyes went wide with wonder as she looked on at the people in the group. "What the? Mermen?"

"I guess we have a fair bit of explaining to do to you," Kaito spoke up as he moved to the front. "Nice to see you again Yukari."

Her face became covered with a heavy blush and honestly shock. "Since when did you?" she began to say until she noticed the necklace adorning his neck. "Well that explains one thing at least." She was desperately trying to cool her face down.

"I'll have to keep it short and sweet for you for now," Nikora said. "The two with us are Hanon and Rina's boyfriends. Let's just say Luchia was a reckless idiot and decided to put the blood pact ritual on them both. Though both said yes, and thus here they are."

Yukari took a moment to process that, to think that Luchia had pulled off ritual magic. "In which case, it's very nice to meet to both of you, and I guess, welcome to our world."

Before either of them had time respond to her, voices could be heard from down the corridors ahead and to the sides. Within moments, a flood of pink tailed mermaids crowded around just behind Yukari and Luchia, the higher ups moving to the front of the crowd to greet her.

"Princess, welcome home," they greeted, bowing to her slightly. As they all looked on to the group, gasps were heard across the room, and small whispers began.

"We were- unaware that you would be bringing extra guests with you, especially mermen for one," one of them said, trying to not to make eye contact with them.

"I wouldn't worry yourselves too much," Nikora replied, swimming forward in front of Luchia and Yukari to address everyone.

"I would like to introduce you to 3 new people who will be staying with us from now on." She turned around and motioned for all 3 boys to come beside her. They swam up to her, Kaito on one side, Nagisa and Masahiro on the other. "First is a face you will be seeing for some time, this is Kaito, Panthalassa Prince and Luchia's husband to-be. The other two are Nagisa and Masahiro, respective boyfriends of Hanon and Rina. They will be here whilst the princesses remain here for the ceremony. As a small heads up, the two of them are not born of the sea, they gave their lives to join our world, so I hope you will welcome them with open arms."

Everyone went extremely silent after Nikora dropped the bomb about who they once were.

"Do you really think it was okay to tell them that?" Masahiro asked concerned.

"Oh more than fine," she replied. "Look at their faces, you'd think they were almost excited by the thought of it."

A lot of the mermaids of Luchia's palace were unaware still of their existence, so to find out for them was a huge surprise, but one they welcomed. For those who did know, they were very excited that they would be staying with them.

"It seems everyone is fine with the surprise you brought," one of the elders replied to Nikora with a smile. She glanced over to the boys. "We do indeed welcome you with open arms, we hope you enjoy your time here. There will be time for more proper introductions tomorrow, but I'm sure a tour of the castle for them wouldn't go amidst would it?"

"It wouldn't indeed," Nagisa replied.

"Shall we go now then?" She asked, motioning for Hanon and Rina to join them. She looked over to Kaito. "And how about you? It's been forever since you were last here."

Luchia took Kaito by the arm and dragged him a bit closer to her. "It's fine, I'd like to give him my own little private tour. There's a few extra places I would have him know about."

The elder thought on what on earth she could want to show him, but decided to let her do so. "Fine by me, just meet us in the royal hall come evening." She ordered most of the mermaids to return to their duties and left with the group in tow behind her.

"So, what exactly do you want to show me then?" Kaito asked.

"Just a few places that are important to me," Luchia replied, grabbing his hand and dragging him off with her.

Yukari watched as everyone left, leaving her with Nikora and Hippo. "Well, we might as well go get a small bite to eat, don't know about you but I'm hungry," Yukari said openly, swimming off down to the corridor towards the dining hall, Nikora and Hippo following her reluctantly.

* * *

 **\- with Luchia and Kaito -**

The first place that Luchia decided to show him was their Library. As they entered, Kaito was in awe at the ceiling high book cases, adorned with all kinds of books. Littered around the place were also sea foam shaped beanie bags for seating. "How on earth do you even have books down here?"

"Most of the pages are from finely chopping up coral and using special mixes to turn it into a somewhat paper like substance, same thing goes for the ink used to write them. We have books on pretty much any subject you need to know to do with the history of our world," Luchia explained. She moved to the back of the room to show him what she really came here for.

At the very back there was a lone section of wall with no bookcase. Instead, there was a book similar to the size of the rituals book, the front cover in ancient mermaid simply reading 'clans.' The book was suspended in midair, coaxed in chains with one lock connecting them all, the chains strung from the bookcases either side of the open space.

She placed her hand against the lock and chanted in ancient mermaid, the lock dissolving and the chains falling to the floor with a clang. She rested it against the back wall and opened up the pages. The pages must like the cover were also all in the same text, Kaito unable to read what any of it was.

"Just to ask, why show this to me knowing I can't read it?" Kaito asked quite confused.

"Well, the book is a record of the history of all 20 clans that fill the ocean. Every single last detail is recorded by Aqua Regina herself in her master copy, call these ones mere illusions of the real thing. Every birth, every death, every war, every victory. All of it is recorded. Though we do not peer into this book very often, as a clan head, and as harsh as this may sound, I think it's best that in my off time that I try to teach you at least basic ancient mermaid so that you can learn about the past of your clan." Luchia then closed up the book and held her hand out back over the front cover, the chains lifting themselves up to meet around the book, and the lock reappearing with a click sound.

"How exactly would you even begin to teach me it?" Kaito asked.

"Like you learn any other language," Luchia smiled in response. "I'd teach you its alphabet mainly, there's no point in trying to learn how to write it or say it."

"Well, that's something I kinda look forward to then," he replied giving her a big hug.

Luchia let out a low key giggle and pushed away from him after a while, saying that she didn't really have many locations to show him. In fact, there were only 3 she wanted to show him.

After swimming down a few corridors and passing by the group who were around the castle's main fountain, she came to a door etched with a wave symbol on it. She opened the door and told Kaito to go in first. He swam through the door only to find himself back in a gravity controlled environment, crashing down onto the floor, suddenly human again.

He looked up from his spot on the floor to see a couple of beds constructed of wood and the same sea foam material he'd seen earlier. There were also a lot of wood structured cabinets around the room, decorated with vials and various types of coral. Luchia came into the room now human herself and picked him up off the floor. "Just what the hell is this room?"

"We only have a few like it in the whole castle, a gravity controlled space, magic barring it from all water. Though we may not usually associate ourselves with humans, there is the odd incident where a few end up down here, and it's not like some of us to let them die. So this room was created in order to let them get well, and once they were well, transport them back to the shore and wipe their memory of this place," Luchia explained. She had once had a human fall down into the ocean in her youth, and she had first hand witnessed an elder mermaid saving him, and bringing him to this room. After she had left the room, Luchia was told of its purpose.

She stepped back out the door, transforming back to a mermaid and motioning for Kaito to join her. He did so and the two headed off for the last location. They had headed down a long series of corridors to the back of the palace, to find a series of holes in the ceiling above them, a set of shortcuts as it were. Luchia started heading up them first, Kaito following behind her. Eventually she hit the very top, actually back out in the open sea just above the palace on the small rooftop balcony. She took Kaito's hand and dragged him to to the edge, his mouth dropping open in awe at the sight before him. Behind the castle in the distance was a field of vibrant coral, a complete forest of it, creating a rainbow aura around it.

"Woah, I don't think I've ever seen anything more beautiful in my life," Kaito said, completely taken in by the beauty of it.

"I suggest one day you go take a swim around it, it's good for the soul to do so," Luchia replied, gazing out at it herself. Several times had she gone out there when she needed to let off some steam of felt lost. The vibrancy of the coral always made her feel better, such a wonderful sight was extremely calming, and there were plenty of different strange fish she would find there too.

"Well, that was just about it," Luchia said, turning around to head back down the series of holes. "You coming or what?"

Kaito snapped out of his gaze and apologised, following after her to go to the royal hall, hoping by now that the other had finished their tour as well.

* * *

 **\- In the royal hall -**

As Luchia and Kaito entered through the open archway leading into it, they saw their group of friends waiting with the three elders and Nikora. Hippo had gone off to see to a personal matter and Yukari had gone back to her duties.

"So, how did you find the tour?" Luchia asked.

"I know this placed looked huge from a distance, but damn, this place is just massive," Nagisa remarked.

"Indeed, it's quite something that a structure like this exists," Masahiro said. "I must ask though, along the way there were multiple holes in the ceiling, what are they for?"

"They lead up to other floors," the elder who had given them the tour replied. "You will not find much up their though, most of it is the rest of the sleeping quarters for the residents and storage space for supplies."

Another elder suggested that if they were all done for now, it would be wise to go and have dinner with everyone else in the dining hall. They all agreed and went on their way, still amazed at the sight of it having seen it before. There was an absolutely massive long wooden table down the length of the room, and multiple wooden chairs with the same sea foam like substance being used as seating cushions. Along the length of the table were various bowl and plates that looked like they were made of glass crystal, filled with all kinds of sea food. There were also glass pitchers filled with what looked like juice, wherein reality it was a special blend or coral to replicate a tasty drink used just at breakfast and mealtimes. The group swam up to the other end of the room and took a seat at the extra space that had been made for them all, chowing down on the large assortment of food. Despite being a royal palace, food time was the only time everyone within the palace really came together, and every meal was treated as a splendid buffet, filled with talks of their days, though most of the talk tonight was on the group, especially the boys of whom had lived on the surface for all their lives, many mermaids curious about it.

After their meal was finished, most of the mermaids headed off to their rooms for the night. The elders bid them goodnight and headed their own way as well.

"Well, what an eventful meal that was," Yukari said rubbing her stomach. "I don't think I've ever heard them all be so talkative, you two really made things interesting tonight." She glanced over to Nagisa and Masahiro.

"What can we say really?" We still have so much more we could tell them about our lives as well, so I wouldn't be surprised if the next few nights were the same," Nagisa replied.

"Oh what joy," Hippo said in a monotone voice. "As lovely as all of it was, we mustn't forget the real reason we are all here. The elders have said for everyone to converge in the royal hall again tomorrow come lunch time to discuss the full details of our plans."

With that downer of a note from him, Nikora spoke up and decided perhaps it too was time that everyone went to bed for the night. After all, it had been a very long day for all of them. Everyone agreed and said their farewells, heading off down separate corridors. There were individual rooms for the other princesses when they visited Luchia's castle.

Luchia came to her own room and opened the door. Kaito was quite surprised when he was it. Her room looked very much like her own room at the Pearl Piari on land. "Wow, I didn't expect your room to look so similar.

"Yeah, truth the room back on land was modeled after this one," Luchia said, letting out a massive yawn at the end of her sentence and headed over to the bed. The bed looked a bit different than her normal one though. The base of it was made of the same sort of wood that he'd seen all over the place, the mattress made from the same sea foam material that littered the place as well. Sitting down on the edge of it for a sec, he left like he was on some sort of memory foam mattress, it was incredibly comfy. The duvet was made of seaweed woven together, and was the same sort of pink colour as Luchia's own tail. It looked quite hard in shape and was fairly rigid, but it was again, very soft in feel.

Luchia took her usual place of facing the wall with Kaito next to her, holding her body slightly. Within moments both dropped off into a deep, well needed, well deserved sleep.

Tomorrow was going to be just as long of a day, and not as fun as they had hoped it was going to be. The ocean for one is a mysterious beast, one day she could be calm and do nothing, other days she could bring god knows what kind of mischief up. And for those living within her warmth, everyday was a complete mystery. For whilst all may seem calm, word spreads fast among the currents, and there are those out there who would not see the union of two people when one was from a clan who one tried to wipe out the mermaid world centuries ago. On top of all this, who knew what else the ocean had in store everyday for them.

* * *

 **Demonika: Well, let me just say I am full glad to finish that all up! It means I can cut out some of the fat from later chapters, establish some things, and still have some story in there. Also sorry that this chapter was much shorter than the rest but again, if I was to just carry on from last time, there would be just too much until I found a point to stop.**

 **I'm not entirely sure when I'll get the next chapter out, it's just going to take a small while to segway into where I need to go with it, and how I get to that point. I'll work on it when I can, but until then, I hope you all still continue to enjoy this story, and I'll see you whenever I next see you.**


End file.
